and then he made all of 85% all the remaining bush tax cuts permanent. so 85% of the money that he could have taken off the table and given to his friends remained with the american people. and as a result, he now gave up all of his bargaining position. what if instead he'd said, guys, we're going to have, we're going to extend the tax cuts for most people for a year. then a year from now he'd have said, well, i can only extend part of this for another year. he would have had all the clout. every time he gets mad at the the republicans, he could have said, well, if you do that, i'm going to have to make you pay for it by culling back the tax cut when we extend it next year, or you could do it every two years. instead, he gave that all away. why would he give up his bargaining position, his upper hand on taxes? well, he believed he also had the upper hand on sequestration. sequestration or the automatic spending cuts. they're the opposite of the fiscal cliff. the fiscal cliff was if nothing happens, taxes go up, and the republicans can't stop it. there's